Resolving geographic units that do not neatly coincide is a common problem in spatial data analysis. This method attempts to conflate King County Health Reporting Areas (HRAs) to US Census tracts. In the cases where a given tract with entirely within a HRA, that tract receives the HRA’s ID. Where a given tract overlaps multiple HRAs block-level census data is used to determine which HRA ID to assign to the tract.
This method provides three alternatives of block-level counts that can be used:
The following actions are performed in this method:
class = SpatialPointsDataFrame)sp::over())POP,HU,POPHU) are summedAfter running the assignment algorithm, it is clear that the POP and POPHU variables result in the same HRA assignments. HU differs from the other two variables in three of the tracts:
| GEOID_TR | HRA_POP | HRA_POPHU | HRA_HU |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53033022202 | Kirkland North | Kirkland North | Kirkland |
| 53033025001 | Bellevue-South | Bellevue-South | Newcastle/Four Creeks |
| 53033028801 | SeaTac/Tukwila | SeaTac/Tukwila | Des Moines/Normandy Park |